• Anne A. Gershon,MD
• Marc D. Foca, MD
• Philip L. Graham III, MD MSc
• Philip LaRussa, MD
• Natalie M. Neu, MD MPH
• Sameer J. Patel, MD
• Alice Prince, MD
• Adam J. Ratner, MD MPH
• Lisa Saiman, MD MPH

• How to Apply
• Clinical Training
• Research
• Fellowship Program Conferences
• Past and Present Fellows

Fellowship Program

Clinical Training

The fellows are trained at the Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of New York and the Columbia University Medical Center, located in Upper Manhattan. The Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of New York is a free standing children's hospital that is part of a large medical center, which has over 700 inpatient beds. The children's hospital itself has 203 pediatric inpatient beds, including 41 PICU and 66 NICU beds.

The Pediatric Infectious Diseases service has an active consultative service responsible for a wide range of individual ID and epidemiologic issues associated with a very busy tertiary care children's hospital. The team routinely is involved in the diagnosis and management of infections in children with complex underlying illnesses, such as stem cell and solid organ transplantation, complex congenital heart disease, and prematurity, as well as community-acquired infections in otherwise healthy children. The inpatient service team includes student and resident rotators participating in month-long electives. Frequent consultations for antibiotic management are requested as the hospital has an antibiotic control program which mandates approval for restricted antimicrobial agents. The service follows infections following organ transplantation, catheter-related sepsis, shunt infections, neonatal sepsis, sepsis in immunocompromised children, endocarditis, tuberculosis, osteomyelitis, pneumonia, AIDS, post-operative wound infections and congenital or neonatal viral infections. Drs. Foca and Neu have the major responsibility for consultations in Pediatric Infectious Diseases in affiliated hospitals including Nyack Hospital and St. Barnabas Hospital.

Clinical service time is divided into 4 to 6 week blocks. Fellows complete approximately 12 months of clinical service throughout the 3 years of the program. During the three years, it is expected that the fellow will gain progressive skills in the following areas: clinical skills, medical knowledge, practice-based learning and improvement, interpersonal and communication skills, professionalism and systems-based practice. The following are examples of the skills that fellows are expected to acquire by year of training.

• Year 1: During the 1st year, fellows should recognize presentations of various infectious diseases and modalities for diagnosis and treatment. Fellows should generate a differential diagnosis that is reflected in consultation notes and perform literature reviews as needed. Close supervision is provided by attending physicians for formal consults and all "curbside" phone calls and to assist with literature reviews as needed. Treatment plans will be described by the fellow to pediatric residents and families with attending input.
• Year 2: During the 2nd year, fellows should solidify the above skills and become progressively comfortable designing treatment plans, soliciting other subspecialty input, and coordinating follow-up plans for patients. Fellows should be aware of new developments in the field. Literature reviews are conducted independently. Continued supervision is provided by attending physicians. Treatment plans will be described by the fellow to pediatric residents and families with minimal attending input.
• Year 3: During the 3rd year, fellows are expected to carry out their clinical duties with minimal supervision and when appropriate, to apply new developments in the field. Treatment plans will be developed including implementation of subspecialty input and be described by the fellow to pediatric residents and families independent of attending input.

Off-service fellows continue to participate in clinical activities. Outpatients are seen 1/2 day per week in the general infectious disease, HIV, STD, or TB clinics. Fellows are responsible for medical follow up of these outpatients, which includes coordination of care with other sub-specialties. These clinical practices are supervised by the Pediatric Infectious Diseases faculty.

Other clinical and training opportunities that are available during the 3 year program include the following: Clinical Microbiology, Hospital Epidemiology and Infection Control, Clinical Trials, Quality Assurance and Improvement, and the STD training course offered by the NYS DOH. Additional opportunities include attendance at a Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America/CDC Training Course (Healthcare Epidemiology course, www.shea-online.org), immunology and vaccinology training courses, and the possibility to obtain a MS or MPH in Public Health. We are in the process of developing our international HIV experience. We currently have clinical and research collaborations in Ethiopia, Vietnam and South Africa.

Research >